STREETS OF LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 24: Jake Dennis (GBR), BMW I Andretti Motorsport, 1st position, sprays the victory Champagne during the London E-Prix I at Streets of London on Saturday July 24, 2021, United Kingdom. (Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)
Jake Dennis won Saturday's Formula E round in the streets of London. (Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)

Dennis Is London Formula E Ace

LONDON — BMW i Andretti Motorsports driver Jake Dennis strode to a serene victory in his home E-Prix in London, with a masterful performance that saw him finish five seconds clear of runner-up Nyck de Vries.

De Vries (Mercedes-EQ) and countryman Alex Lynn (Mahindra Racing) rounded out the top three.

Dennis broke free of early leader Lynn having pinched the initiative during the second round of ATTACK MODE activations. From there, the Brit pulled away from the rest — strong on energy management as the most effective driver on regen through the encounter — mirroring the first win of his rookie Formula E campaign back in Valencia.

That top score catapults Dennis into second in the standings after point leader Sam Bird (Jaguar Racing) retired after contact on a congested opening lap. 

“After such a strong qualifying, to now get the win is just sensational,” Dennis said. “I made a special helmet for this weekend, a British helmet and I’m just over the moon. It was a brilliant job by the whole team. We took a risk with the strategy, we could have played it safe but we felt like we had better pace than Mahindra and it paid off.”

De Vries clambered through the pack from ninth to claw himself back into title contention and haul Mercedes-EQ up a spot in the Teams’ running.

Lynn led for a significant portion of the race but a costly lock-up at Turn 10, with Dennis still to take his second ATTACK MODE activation, handed the initative to his compatriot.

The Mahindra racer would have to settle for third.

Nissan e.dams Sebastien Buemi wound up fourth, with Porsche’s Andre Lotterer fending off the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler pair of Rene Rast and Lucas di Grassi for fifth.

Mercedes-EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne leapt from 14th to finish eighth, and reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa (DS TECHEETAH) romped from 17th to ninth.